Drivers hit by petrol price rises

Petrol pump prices have risen by an average of 2p in the last two months, with a further rise expected next week.

Since reaching the year's low-point of 74.6p a litre in mid-July, the average price of unleaded petrol has now risen to to 76.57, research from fleet and fuel management company Arval PHH showed.

Next week, a 1.28p a litre rise, deferred from the April 2003 Budget, is expected to be introduced.

"This additional rise will present an additional burden on both the beleaguered British motorist and UK plc," said Arval's fuel and business mobility managing director Danny Clenaghan.

He went on: "The impact on business will be particularly severe. A company with a fleet of 100 petrol-driven cars, each doing 10,000 business miles a year, could see its annual fuel bill rising by around £150,000.

"The rise will bring the national average price of fuel to around 77.8p a litre for unleaded and 79p for diesel, although we are still some way off the 83p diesel prices that triggered the September 2000 fuel protests."

Arval's figures showed that in August 2003 the average price of unleaded petrol was 76.15p a litre.

The cheapest was to be found in Shoeburyness, Essex, at an average price of 72.15p, while the most expensive were Brora, Caithness and Wivelsfield, East Sussex, both at an average price of 83.9p.

The average price of diesel in August was 77.10p a litre. The cheapest was to be found in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, at an average price of 72.9p, while the most expensive was the Isle of Arran at an average price of 86.0p.